Well, it was listed at 9,000 calories a day, but with sometimes swimming for hours, upon hours, I can see how it MAY be possible; however, that would be a sh!t load of food, especially if it's all clean which Im sure it's not completely.

EDIT: a few years ago, it was listed at 9,000, then 10,000..so, dunno about this listing.

AND this is all at the direction of his 'nutritionist'. She was interviewed on the show we were watching and said something about 'athletes need carbs!' and then they showed him eating 6 pancakes, off of the griddle, sopped in syrup with him scooping multi-Teaspoons of butter on to it.

What is this doing to his organs? Pancreas? Heart? Circulatory sytem? I could go on.

There is a difference between eating for health and eating for performance but i think (i know i am going to get flamed for this) this is inaccurate, inefficient, incorrect and ignorant.

The guy is obviously one of the best athletes ever but i 100% disagree with his dietary habits. But, who am i?

i have an idea, "www.thephelpsdiet.com". It would sell 'like hotcakes'.

those guys eat like sh!t thats why! marathon runners do the same thing. 12,000 cals a day is not clean food!

Troof. Extreme runners, like the 100+ mile races eat bigmacs and other food like that while they're actually running. A girl I'm friends with at school is one of these runners. She says on the day before and the day of her training runs (something like 20 hrs straight) she eats over 17k calories.

They only reason they eat like this is because it is not physically plausible for them to eat the amount of healthy foods that would equal the caloric intake of the foods that they do it.

Troof. Extreme runners, like the 100+ mile races eat bigmacs and other food like that while they're actually running. A girl I'm friends with at school is one of these runners. She says on the day before and the day of her training runs (something like 20 hrs straight) she eats over 17k calories.

They only reason they eat like this is because it is not physically plausible for them to eat the amount of healthy foods that would equal the caloric intake of the foods that they do it.

Sorry, but this is complete BS, 17k calories in less than 20 hours.

Same for the 12k of Phelps. He'd be consuming more cal than your average sumo wrestler.

Chuck Liddell, MMA great and certainly someone who knows about intense training said in an interview he needs to consume 4,200 or 4,400 kcal to maintain his weight. He walks around at about 220 pounds.

Same for the 12k of Phelps. He'd be consuming more cal than your average sumo wrestler.

Chuck Liddell, MMA great and certainly someone who knows about intense training said in an interview he needs to consume 4,200 or 4,400 kcal to maintain his weight. He walks around at about 220 pounds.

So Phelps almost eats almost three times as much???

Camon, people, this is crap.

Not many people do 5 hours of olympic level and intensity swimming ED, Chuck included.

Same for the 12k of Phelps. He'd be consuming more cal than your average sumo wrestler.

Chuck Liddell, MMA great and certainly someone who knows about intense training said in an interview he needs to consume 4,200 or 4,400 kcal to maintain his weight. He walks around at about 220 pounds.

So Phelps almost eats almost three times as much???

Camon, people, this is crap.

You obviously have no idea how difficult and taxing swimming is. You also obviously have no idea how to read as I said my friend eats that much over 48 hour period.

All I'm saying is he's not that impressive looks wise and prol half this site impresses me more... Hell I don't even think he's that "healthy" on the inside. All that food especially that kind can't be good.

Troof. Extreme runners, like the 100+ mile races eat bigmacs and other food like that while they're actually running.

They only reason they eat like this is because it is not physically plausible for them to eat the amount of healthy foods that would equal the caloric intake of the foods that they do it.

I remember seeing a show on TV where a group of marathon bikers who were all decked out in race gear came in to a diner, sat down and ordered giant slices of apple pie with heaping scoops of ice cream on top. When asked why they were eating that they responded, "we need the calories for fuel."

Troof. Extreme runners, like the 100+ mile races eat bigmacs and other food like that while they're actually running. A girl I'm friends with at school is one of these runners. She says on the day before and the day of her training runs (something like 20 hrs straight) she eats over 17k calories.

They only reason they eat like this is because it is not physically plausible for them to eat the amount of healthy foods that would equal the caloric intake of the foods that they do it.

Very true. My university has a D1 swim team, and I am close friends with several of the guys on it. These guys eat complete **** and are all shredded with abs jutting out. They all eat fast food like McDonalds, Burger King, etc to get in those calorie #s. Their coach encourages them to eat Kraft Mac n' Cheese, pizza, cookies, etc. Obviously this is complete crap food, but it works for them because they spend hours in the pool everyday.... often they have 2 practice sessions day, morning & night, so you figure they are burning up a massive amount of calories. Before big meets they go on a "carb up" and go as a team to some place with ****ty junk food just to load up on cals, and they do well @ their meets so it is working for them.

Phelps does have godlike swimming abilities and is a world champ, but I don't get how some of you can be THAT blown away by his body? 6'3" 190 lean ... that's pretty normal physique for D1 swimmer @ most top schools. ****, our own AM's vikinginc is that height and is like 8% 228lbs. That's impressive. I've been watching with a lot of friends lately and they are all making comments about how 'gigantic' he is, anyone with decent mass looks big @ that bf%. His body is perfectly suited for what it needs to be good @, swimming, but if someone wanted a look like that it would not be that difficult to obtain IMO.

this isnt impossible by any means...me and my brother have eaten over 12k calories in one day...but for me i gained fat...my brother jsut got fuller...if he doesnt time all those calories properly my brother will still lose weight (running...ALOT)...these people who burn this many calories a day need lots of food...doesnt mater what it is...just CALORIES...ive seen my brother eat an entire jar of peanut butter in one sitting because he was losing too much weight during pre-season...
and hes not even an olympic gold medalist..."a champion knows what he wants, knows what he needs to do, what it takes to get it. He wants it bad enough to work through the pain"......

I used to be a swimmer, and I had to eat 4000+ calories to maintain a bodyweight of 150lbs at 5'11. And that was heavily loaded towards carbs. Otherwise I couldn't perform to the degree required of me.

In college my girlfriend was on our D1 swim team and she ate like absolute **** just to maintain herself at a reasonable weight. I kid you not, the guys on her team drank like fish, ate whatever they could force down their mouths, and didn't care what it was as long as it was food. And the majority of them were lean and cut. Because they were swimming two a day practices 3 times a week, and the other 3 days per week that the practiced was one pool workout and one "dry land" workout (calisthenics or weight training). They could consume upwards of 6-7k calories per day without batting an eyelash.

Swimming is an intense sport that requires a large caloric expenditure, hence their ability to eat large quantities of food and stay lean.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a healthy diet for them in any way. Because when they stop swimming they have issues adjusting to everyday life (food-wise). For instance, my ex-gf who was the D1 swimmer, put on a sizeable amount of weight after she graduated due to her eating habits that were perfectly ok when she was swimming incredible amounts.

The disbelief that he requires that many calories is ignorant, due to most of you not realizing the caloric expenditure that comes from swimming. Phelps swims 4800 meters in the morning to "warm up", thats 3 miles gents. I'm not surprised he has to eat 10k+ calories to maintain his body DURING the Olympics. I don't believe he eats like this every day. I think this is geared towards keeping him flush with energy during the multitude of events he's swimming in such a short period of time.

I used to be a swimmer, and I had to eat 4000+ calories to maintain a bodyweight of 150lbs at 5'11. And that was heavily loaded towards carbs. Otherwise I couldn't perform to the degree required of me.

In college my girlfriend was on our D1 swim team and she ate like absolute **** just to maintain herself at a reasonable weight. I kid you not, the guys on her team drank like fish, ate whatever they could force down their mouths, and didn't care what it was as long as it was food. And the majority of them were lean and cut. Because they were swimming two a day practices 3 times a week, and the other 3 days per week that the practiced was one pool workout and one "dry land" workout (calisthenics or weight training). They could consume upwards of 6-7k calories per day without batting an eyelash.

Swimming is an intense sport that requires a large caloric expenditure, hence their ability to eat large quantities of food and stay lean.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a healthy diet for them in any way. Because when they stop swimming they have issues adjusting to everyday life (food-wise). For instance, my ex-gf who was the D1 swimmer, put on a sizeable amount of weight after she graduated due to her eating habits that were perfectly ok when she was swimming incredible amounts.

The disbelief that he requires that many calories is ignorant, due to most of you not realizing the caloric expenditure that comes from swimming. Phelps swims 4800 meters in the morning to "warm up", thats 3 miles gents. I'm not surprised he has to eat 10k+ calories to maintain his body DURING the Olympics. I don't believe he eats like this every day. I think this is geared towards keeping him flush with energy during the multitude of events he's swimming in such a short period of time.

It comes as a shock to many, as very few train like this. The truth is that they can, and in some cases MUST eat like that... diet changes drastically from bodybuilding to athletics. Try getting into the pool for an intensive 30 minute session, and see how your body feels after that. A swimmer of Phelp's magnitude swims twice as fast, and ~10 times as long, literally. Calorie expenditure is way, way above what the average guy burns in the gym. Maintaining performance demands fuel, and if you can't provide the raws, you just won't last. It's brutish, and sounds improper, but you have to understand how much these guys demand of their bodies. Whole different game.

Edit - I pretty much just reiterated what you wrote Nabisco, after I read it back to myself...lol. Probably just should have said, "+1 Agreement!" haha

I think if I swam 60 miles a week in a pool I could easily slap down 12k calories.

AnabolicsMinds.com user challenge? 60m a week? haha

I'm so fascinated by the amount of work he, and other swimmers like himself, throw down. It's simply just amazing to be able to do that much work. Serious athleticism. So impressive.... I swam a mile in the pool not too long ago, and that **** is absolutely intense. It's no joke.... and he triples my workout for his warmup. So freakin' cool.

It's not a healthy diet but I do not think it will make much of a difference at Phelp's age. People underestimate how efficient our body is at maintaining homeostasis. Obviously, as people age our bodies become less efficient. If Phelps was still eating this kind of junk at 30, it might start to become a problem.

And to the person talking about Phelp's physique being unimpressive, not everyone is a bodybuilder. It's not like the guy walks around claiming he will win bb comps, he has a fantastic swimming physique and that's all that matters. I find it a bit silly when people lessen someone's athletic achievements because they don't have 18' arms. On a side note, Phelps and Bernard have shoulders wider than my wing span!

when you train as much as an olympic athlete does, especially in a sport like swimming, its very difficult to get all the kcals you need for traing by just eating clean. Now couple that with elite genetics and now you are eating 12000 kcals...

In the words of kevin garnett "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLE!!!!"

hahaha, a friend of mine is a university swimmer and thier whole team eats a bunch of trash before and during swim meets, I used to do the same before a basketball game in high school, just eat whatever I wanted, I knew I would burn it off during the game.

Same for the 12k of Phelps. He'd be consuming more cal than your average sumo wrestler.

Chuck Liddell, MMA great and certainly someone who knows about intense training said in an interview he needs to consume 4,200 or 4,400 kcal to maintain his weight. He walks around at about 220 pounds.

So Phelps almost eats almost three times as much???

Camon, people, this is crap.

Using Chuck Liddell as an example does not help your cause. Liddell and sound nutrition is an oxymoron.

wow we are still arguing about this...we all could do half of that easily on ****ty food and most of us don't train over 2hrs a day including cardio. hell i don't even do cardio and i have to eat like a horse just to maintain my weight.

anyone remember the meal 1-10 from mcdonalds thread...did that tool ever do it cause i don't know...and i am sure he was a nobody. what about competition eaters that can eat like 10lbs of food in one sitting. sure its not healthy but can easily be done!

elite athlete. Crazy genetics. Trains incredibly hard...this isnt that out of countrol. Athletes eat different then bodybuilders like most of the people are around here. This man dominates world competition, and people are shocked when he can consume a ton of kcals? It isnt that big of a deal or even that unthinkable.

i'm still skeptical, although it seems feasible he could do ALOT of calories during competition especially. i don't think that eating all crap & energy drinks is the only way to get the calories at all. in fact, that's gonna be alot of empty cals that could be easier thrown down as optimal calorie dense ones. it is true he is young & can get away with alot too. i think i'll try to find out how many cals Lance Armstrong does! here's some insights into his training:

i'm still skeptical, although it seems feasible he could do ALOT of calories during competition especially. i don't think that eating all crap & energy drinks is the only way to get the calories at all. in fact, that's gonna be alot of empty cals that could be easier thrown down as optimal calorie dense ones. it is true he is young & can get away with alot too. i think i'll try to find out how many cals Lance Armstrong does! here's some insights into his training:

Your right on one point, but if your talking about a body builder who has TIME TO SIT BACK and strategically plan each meal, and who trains 3 hours a day, getting ready for 2-3 events per year, then yes; however, when you are an Olympic athlete, who trains hours, upon hours a day, and swims in multiple events EVERY year, all year, then the op to strategically plan calorie dense meals goes out the window, to say the least. I doubt he eats this way during the Olympics, but Im sure it's close...

Hell, I can remember when I was a sprinter in HS and College, I ate about 6k on some days just to maintain energy due to a severely over active metabolism. We'd train 3 sessions a day, and those were 400 meter sessions which lasted for 2-3 hours, which also includes short sprints and weight lifting 5 days a week. 6k a about 4 days a week, and I was walking around at 150ish

Of course I believe he eats 10 k per day, provided he's doing hours upon hours of training.You have too. and with all that activity the junk food doesn't effect you like it would if you weren't doing it.

does he do this year round? No I'm sure he gives himself a break from training and eats clean> I was out tonight at a sports bar with a friend and saw him, he is in good condition. Nice back

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